When I met with Acer reps back in September to get a look at the company's forthcoming Windows 8 hardware, they mentioned a few times that the company was really looking to shed its image as a purveyor of inexpensive but mediocre laptops. Acer still continues to sell low-end models that fit this description—look at the C7 Chromebook—but it would also like to claim a slice of the high-end market that Lenovo, Apple, Asus, and others have so effectively staked out with their best laptops and Ultrabooks.

If Acer's touchscreen-equipped S7 Ultrabook (which we first previewed back in October, is an example of what we can expect from the company going forward, it might just be able to pull off this image rehabilitation. We've spent a few days with the 13-inch model, and there are quite a few things to like about it. It still has a few notable flaws, though, and they stick out all the more because of the laptop's good qualities. Let's explore.

When one thinks of Acer, good build quality isn’t usually the first thing that comes to mind. The S7 goes a long way toward changing this perception. The laptop is very thin and light—it’s half an inch thick when closed and weighs less than three pounds, features which are both generally excellent for this product segment. The laptop is also uniform in thickness throughout, rather than tapered as some other Ultrabooks are.

The 13-inch model uses an attractive white-and-silver color scheme that offers a nice contrast to the aluminum-with-black-trim aesthetic of many Ultrabooks. The lid, which has an illuminated Acer logo inset, is white, coated entirely in Gorilla Glass, and rimmed with aluminum trim. We worry just a little bit about the glass shattering if, for example, it’s in a bag that has something heavy set on top of it in an airplane, but it seems fairly sturdy and it’s quite striking. The 11-inch model, which we aren’t looking at in-depth today, uses a still-nice but more conventional aluminum lid.

The display bezel is also white and glass-covered, while the hinge and wrist rest are both aluminum. The bottom of the laptop is made of sturdy white plastic. Apple’s unibody aluminum designs still set the standard for solid construction in this price class, but the general fit and finish of Acer’s S7 is excellent, and it’s a huge step forward for the company.

Enlarge/ The aluminum wrist rest tells us that Acer's Ultrabooks are still "Professionally Tuned."

Andrew Cunningham

Enlarge/ The bottom of the S7 is a matte white plastic that matches the lid.

Andrew Cunningham

My first gripe with the general design of the laptop is the location of the power button, which is on the left edge of the laptop next to some of the ports. While picking up and moving the laptop, I’ve accidentally pressed that button four times, so I feel pretty confident in saying that it isn’t optimally placed. We’ll talk a bit more about this when we discuss the keyboard, but it’s details like these that really detract from the attractiveness of the total package.

Ports

Enlarge/ On the left, we've got a power jack, micro HDMI port, headphone jack, and power button.

The S7’s selection of ports is a bit on the light side, but it includes what it needs to: a headphone jack and micro HDMI port on the left edge, and two USB 3.0 ports and an SD card reader on the right. Included micro HDMI-to-VGA and USB-to-Ethernet dongles help to supplement what’s built into the laptop. Two Dolby Digital speakers on the bottom of the laptop lack bass, but they do get nice and loud and don’t distort much at higher volumes.

Enlarge/ In addition to its micro HDMI-to-VGA and USB-to-Ethernet dongles, the S7 also comes with a case and Bluetooth mouse.

Andrew Cunningham

Screen

One of the best things about most of the PC laptops that we’ve been reviewing lately is that there has been no need to go on any tirades about awful, washed out 1366×768 panels, at least not in the high-end. We really liked the 1600×900 IPS display in the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga and the 1920×1080 display in the Asus Zenbook Prime, and the Acer S7 is another good one. It uses a 1920×1080 IPS touchscreen with the aforementioned Gorilla glass coating, resulting in a display that is fairly reflective but also has great color, brightness, and viewing angles.

I personally like 1080p in a 13-inch laptop, but others may find it a bit small, especially on the Windows desktop—Windows 8’s Start screen and Metro apps scale better than the desktop does and shouldn’t cause problems for even visually impaired users. The system uses 125 percent scaling on the desktop out of the box, which is a reasonably comfortable default setting that doesn’t look too bad.

Enlarge/ The glass-coated IPS display is reflective, but it holds its color well even from extreme angles.

Andrew Cunningham

As for its touch capabilities, they’re really just an extra feature. The laptop’s hinge bends a full 180 degrees making it possible to lay the screen flat on a table, but unlike so many other Windows 8 Ultrabooks, it’s not trying to be a convertible tablet. Our general opinion of touchscreens in Ultrabooks applies to the S7: since the natural resting position of your hands on the keyboard is already pretty close to the screen, it’s trivial to reach out and interact with the touchscreen briefly to perform any tasks that are awkward or difficult on the keyboard and trackpad. You won’t be using touch as a primary input method, but it’s definitely a worthwhile accessory.

I had to put a game on to really get the fans to speed up, but once they did they were quite loud, and the area above the keyboard got pretty warm to the touch. This isn’t atypical for Ultrabooks (and the S7 didn’t feel quite as hot as my 13-inch MacBook Air does during a long Minecraft session), but it’s worth mentioning. However, during lighter use (writing, browsing the Web, playing music, and other normal activities) the fans were quiet and the laptop was merely warm.

Acer! You always have Horrible battery life! Stop! And Fix it! 2-4 Hours is junk! 7-10 even if i t makes it pricey-er or bigger is better.

How many Ivy Bridge ultraportables, of any OS and from any manufacturer, can do 7-10 hours of battery life with the screen set to full brightness and while playing music and while browsing the web? As Ars Technica's review of the 2012 MacBook Air noted, "Many users of modern (third-gen and up) MacBook Airs are used to getting somewhere between 2 and 4 hours of life."

And I noted that in the 2011 MacBook Air review, the reviewer concluded that playing music in the background was a significant battery drain and quit doing so before recommencing the battery life test for the MBA.

Given that music was playing and the screen was at 100% brightness, 3.5 hours for an ultraportable doesn't seem far off to me.

Acer! You always have Horrible battery life! Stop! And Fix it! 2-4 Hours is junk! 7-10 even if i t makes it pricey-er or bigger is better.

How many Ivy Bridge ultraportables, of any OS and from any manufacturer, can do 7-10 hours of battery life with the screen set to full brightness and while playing music and while browsing the web? As Ars Technica's review of the 2012 MacBook Air noted, "Many users of modern (third-gen and up) MacBook Airs are used to getting somewhere between 2 and 4 hours of life."

And I noted that in the 2011 MacBook Air review, the reviewer concluded that playing music in the background was a significant battery drain and quit doing so before recommencing the battery life test for the MBA.

Given that music was playing and the screen was at 100% brightness, 3.5 hours for an ultraportable doesn't seem far off to me.

Actually, LaptopMag noted the S7 had a max screen brightness of 215 lux, so it's not out of the question to set the S7 to max brightness. In comparison Anandtests at 100 nits or 314 lux (though since the 13" MBA tops at about 285 lux, that means they're testing the MBA at a much brighter level than the equivalent S7!)

Again, the MBA has a significantly larger battery AND a brighter screen AND it gets longer run times.

Dim the screen to match the S7 and it is not in fact out of the question to get much better battery life than the S7.

Looking at notebookcheck.net reviews of various ultrabooks--their testing has a more formalized and consistently-applied battery rundown procedure--yeah, the Acer's battery life is really bad (only the dual-screen Asus Taichi was worse, as far as I could see). Under similar conditions, for example, the Acer went 3.5 hours and the Dell XPS 12 went 5.5 hours.

So ignore my defense of the Acer's battery life. I'd like to see a little more consistency or transparency in the manner in which Ars tests battery life (why was music turned off partway through the 2011 MBA test but left on for the Acer test, etc), but there's no question this model has bad battery life.

It is about bloody time reviewers put machines through their paces at full spec.

If the manufacturers think it important we know how long their batteries will last when used cautiously and in the dark, then they should quote those numbers as secondary and make the conditions clear. The normal tests should run as people normally use them, full spec speed and brightness.

Why ca.n't PC makers get their shit together and put something out there that is decent? Nice IPS panel? Then poor battery life. Good battery life? Then poor screen. Have both? Shitty design/looks.Of course, if they do get something mostly right (HP Envy 15 & 17) then they are considered Mac clones. Argh, it's tough finding a PC with everything I need. Or, like Jerry Seinfeld, I'm just too picky.

You said it all. This is why Apple can sell a 17" laptop for $2,500 -- because they don't do stupid shit like what Acer did with the S7. And I'm no Apple fan. Can't stand MacOS. But their laptops are very nice.

4GB RAM on a high end system today is a downright joke, and a kick in the face if there's no 8gb+ option even available.

No, the fact that the battery is anemic is the joke. Systems can run comfortably on 4GB today, but good luck trying to fix the poor battery life.

Erm, if all you're doing is web surfing, then yeah, 4GB is plenty in fact.

But an I7 equipped laptop with a full 1080 panel qualifies as a pretty serious workhorse, normally suitable for video/photo editing, CAD, etc. That can get pretty sluggish with 4GB. Besides, DDR3 RAM is cheap as dirt. There's no excuse for Acer to hobble this laptop with a scant 4GB -- especially since it's not user serviceable. 8GB minimum. Even 16GB isn't exactly out of the question.

Most times i see the name Acer, i walk by. I know it will be a substandard throwaway at best; I want a machine that lasts for years before I consider an upgrade. No a year before solder points fail, of the touchpad wiggles loose, or the N key decides to pop off. YearS.

This was the firt time--ever--that I've looked at an Acer and not immediatly thought "Junk". For that alone they get kudos.

The recessed keyboard though, and the trackpad especially, make this yet another walkby. Build quality is first introduced to a user from the keyboard and trackpad. If you skimp there, you've skimped elsewhere. My old worries immediately return after reading about "flimsy" and "wobble". What other gremlins are currently chewing into this machine? What other details did they decide were not important enough to address in the factory? Well, Andrew gives us several. From pitiful battery life and an untested SSD config to no upgrading on a platform that will NEED it if the machine is to be used for yearS.